Bologna beat Inter this morning which means Napoli's lead at the top of Serie A will be 18 points after 24 rounds with 14 to play. Ridiculous. It also means that Roma can be joint second place if they manage to beat Calcio Overlords and vanquisher of Copa Italia dreams U.S. Cremonese on Tuesday. However, most importantly, my sources have confirmed that this also means @hardhead is a stupidface. Too bad, so sad.
This made me laugh, a lot. At Chelsea, at modern football, and ruefully at my Roma. Chelsea spent 30x more in the window than all Serie A teams combined just to lose to EPL’s version of Roma.— Nick Mercadante (@NMercad) February 26, 2023
I think I've said it before here--but this Napoli side has been an unexpected joy! We're in a youth movement after a bunch of team legends were transferred, out of contract, or retired. I was excited to see what the new group would do--but I (and most Napoli fans I've talked with) thought we were starting a multi-year project that might take some time to gel. And yet, this season we have the most positive, creative soccer we've seen since the days of Lavezzi and Cavani and Hamsik. And, it looks like the first time in my adult life the Scudetto returns to the city of my birth! Forza Napoli!
How is it that Chelsea are on a million game losing streak yet are somehow still 10th? I thought the EPL was competitive top to bottom.
La Liga leading Barcelona lost today to Almeria. Almeria started the weekend in the relegation zone, or maybe a point above it.2nd place Inter lost today to Bologna who entered the the weekend in 9th place and 15 points behind Inter. It's another weekend of European football, where all across Europe teams at mid or lower half of the table are beating teams well ahead of them. Except Chelsea, that is. In one month, Enzo Fernandez has lost 3 times as many games as he lost at Benfica. In his time at Benfica, Benfica was held scoreless once. It's been 3 or 4 times at Chelsea. With Porto's loss today Benfica sits 8 points clear at the top of Liga Bwin. Dreams of European football for Chelsea look less and less likely. I genuinely feel bad for Enzo. He got paid, but he obviously had some poor advice in his ear. Maybe Chelsea wins the Champions League and he's playing European Football next season, but even the most delusional Chelsea fan thinks that's unlikely. He's moved to an objectively worse situation, playing for the worst manager he's played for in his professional career, and he's looking at next season without European Football. He could have made as much money, or more, if he waited to summer and went to a more stable English club like Man United, Newcastle, or even Fulham. But, he followed bad advice and it's likely this season and next are lost for him. And given that Graham Potter has revealed he's receiving death threats from Chelsea fans, how long to those idiots turn on Enzo as well. I hope it comes good for him. He's a great player and deserves better than the situation he is in. But, this is what happens when agents and money rule the game over coherent projects and the actual game on the field.
To further this point.....Gil Vicente entered today in 14th place, 28 points behind Porto. After Beating Porto today Gil Vicente remain in 14th place, 25 points behind Porto. It's not hard to find results across Europe where stuff like this happens on a weekly basis, unless you are willfully ignorant.
I promise, this isn’t a troll. I just heard this stat and couldn’t believe it. Chelsea have 6 goals in their last 15 games. Gigantic yikes.
Asia: Where former US managers go. (For those who don't know, Bora Milutinović ended up managing China and Iraq after being dismissed from the US.)
Just heard a rumor that Luis Enrique has been in talks with Chelsea but he had some requirements on players he wanted signed. Potter won't make the end of March.
Reports out of Italy that they are keeping tabs on Mourinho’s situation. Is that in the English press too, or is it just the Juve and Milan owned papers attempting to stir (more) chaos at Roma? I do like that Enrique, another former Roma manager, is linked.
At this point nothing would surprise me with Jose or Chelsea. If Roma make too 4, I could see him staying to have UCL nights again (especially if Chelsea’s form continues). But all things equal, I don’t think Jose’s heart beats more for Roma than Chelsea. If asked, he’d go back in a second.
Roma, with a chance to go 2nd in the table lost to 20th place Southampton.....I mean U.S. Cremonese this afternoon. Incredible that stuff like this happens in non-English speaking countries, with non-English speaking media. Love my club.
The same massive US Cremonese who knocked out both Napoli and Roma on their way to the Coppa Italia semifinal.
I recognize I brought this on myself, and urge to learn from my mistake and not bring misfortune upon yourself and Napoli’s Scudetto charge. Respectfully, the club shall henceforth be known, and always referred to as, Calcio Overlords U.S. Cremonese.
Benfica won again. 2-0. They seem to still be thriving post-Enzo transfer. Has Chelsea even scored two goals?
Armand Laurienté (Sassuolo, Serie A) scored a goal off a free kick in a recent game to make SportsCenter's #10 play in the top 10 plays. https://www.espn.com/soccer/matchstats/_/gameId/644864